Thousands of children 'could miss out on nursery places' over changes to funding

Funding changes: Three and four-year-olds could miss out on nursery places
Shutterstock / Poznyakov
Pippa Crerar27 September 2016

Thousands of three and four-year-olds across London could miss out on nursery places as a result of government funding changes, town hall chiefs warned today.

London Councils, which represents local authorities, said the long-term future of many nurseries was at risk.

It said it was “very concerned” that plans to reform early years funding could have a disproportionate effect on state nurseries, many of which are in poorer areas.

Working parents will be able to take up to 30 hours of free childcare for three and four-year-olds from next April, which is likely to see soaring demand for places.

Under the plans, all childcare providers in a borough would receive a universal basic rate to fund the childcare but nurseries in different parts of London face huge variations in costs.

London Councils called on the Government to make sure no area suffers a drop in their hourly funding rate per child as a result of the formula changes.

Nine London boroughs - Hackney, Southwark, Brent, Lewisham,Camden, Islington, Lambeth, Ealing and Tower Hamlets - will all see a reduction in the rate of around 10 per cent.

This is on top of the early years flat funding rate that has been in place since 2013-14, equivalent to a 4.5 per cent real-terms cut.

The town halls want those boroughs which are missing out to get additional funding — but not at the expense of the remaining 23 boroughs in the capital which are set to get more.

Councillor Peter John, London Councils’ schools spokesman, said: “More than 140,000 children across the capital benefit from free childcare provided by maintained nurseries.

"These places support some of the most deprived children in London, particularly where there is a lack of alternative childcare options.

“Setting a universal base rate of funding for all childcare providers will result in many nurseries losing out if they have higher running costs.

"Quality early years education enables children growing up in deprived areas to catch up with their more affluent peers by the time they start primary school. It would be a huge concern if the new funding formula resulted in nurseries reviewing or cutting back the service.”

Overall 240,000 children between two and four in London get free childcare, more than any other part of the UK.

Whitehall is giving an extra £55 million a year to councils for state-funded nursery schools for at least two years, but there is no commitment beyond that.

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